Self-acting water-elevator



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

A. WILKIN.

SELF ACTING WATER ELEVATOR.

Patented" May 11, 1886.

f orney NY PETERS PlmtwLilhogmphel. WashTnglc/l. n.c.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2,

A. WILKIN.

SELF ACTING WATER ELEVATOR.

Patented May 11, 1886.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALFRED WILKIN, on TOLEDO, OHIO.

SELF-ACTING WATER-ELEVATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 341,617, dated May 11, 1886.

Application filed March 8, 1886. Serial No. 194,421. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALFRED WILKIN, of Toledo, in the county of Lucas and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Self -Aeting Water-Elevators; and I dohereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains tomake and use the same.

Myinvention relates to an improvement in self-acting water-elevators.

The object is to provide means for keeping a constant supply of water in an elevated tank or reservoir by the employment of waste steam from a locomotive or other engine while receiving a supply of water from the tank or reservoir.

With this end in View my invention consists in certain features of construction and combinations of parts, as will be hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a view of the elevator and tank, partlyin section, with engine in position to receive asupply of water therefrom. Fig. 2 is an end view of the elevator, and Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view of the air-escape valve.

0 represents a water tank or reservoir located at a suitable height to supply water by gravity alone to the tender of a locomotive hereinafter appear. An inlet or feed pipe, (1,

provided with a check-valve, a, opening upwardly, leads from the chamber A to the well or other natural water-supply, the surface of which must not be at a greater depth below the chamber A than the height of a column of water which the weight of the atmosphere will sustain. Apipe, D, leads from the base of the chamber A to the base of the chamber B, and is provided with a check-valve, (1, opening upwardly. A discharge-pipe, E, leads from the base of the chamber B to the tank or reservoir 0, and is provided with a weighted valve, 6, gaged to open whenever the pressure of air is admitted on the water within the chamberB.

Each chamber A and B is provided with an airescape and air-inlet valve, F, balanced by a suitable weight, f, which admits of its opening freely when the vacuum formed within the chamber is satisfied.

To positively open the valve F when the water reaches a proper height in the chamber. I provide a float, G, attached to the lower end of alever'arm, g, the upper end of the said arm 9 being pivotally secured on a pin or bolt, 71, extending across the opening beneath the valve F. On the same pin or bolt, h, is also mounted or secured the cam-disk H, which, when the float and valve are depressed, is adapted to rest with its flattened side beneath the valve and in close proximity thereto. The upper end of the arm 9 is preferably forked, as shown in Fig. 3, the cam-disk H being located partially between its branches. Two pairs of pins or stops, D, on the faces of the disk H are adapted to engage the arm g at the proper step of its rise or fall and cause the cam-disk to rotate, thereby either opening valve F or allowing it to close, as the case maybe. The corresponding ends of the vacuum-chambers are connected by a steam-inlet pipe, K, which preferably opens into the chambers at about the centers of their ends.

Vithin the vacuum-chambers A and B, directly opposite the dischargenozzles k of the steam-pipe K, are located funnelshaped de flectors L and Z, the larger, L, being located with its apex near the nozzle k, and the latter with its apex at the center of the mouth of the larger. There is also a small opening, Z, at the apex of each deflector. The deflectors serve to scatter the steam as it issues from the nozzle of the steam-pipe, and cause it to rap idly expel the air from every part of the vacuum-chamber. The steam-pipe K is provided with a two-way cock, M, and a flexible pipe, N, leads from a nipple, on, near the cock M, to a steam-supply on an engine or boiler.

In the accompanying drawings a locomotive is represented as taking water from the tank 0, and furnishing steam to the vacuumchamber through the pipe N.

The operation is as follows: Suppose the two 5 vacuum-chambers to be empty and the valves F slightly open, which is their normal condition. The steam from the engine is first turned into the chamber A, and the air driven out through its escapevalve F. The steam is then turned into the chamber B by means of the cock M, and cut off from the chamber A. The airis expelled from the chamber B through its valve F, and the steam then cut off. As the steam in the chamber A condenses, a vacuum is formed, and the pressure on the outside of the valves F causes them to fall into a closed position, and the water rushes up through the pipe at and fills the chamber up to the point where the valve F is opened by the float and air-pressure admitted, the balance-weight on the valve h holding it open after airis admitted. The steam in the chamber B being new condensed,a vacuum is formed, and the water rushes from the chamber A into the chamber B until the valve F is opened and air-pressure ad mitted,when the dischargevalve in the pipe leading to the tank or reservoir O is opened by the pressure of water and air thereon, and the water escapes from 0 the chamber B into the tank 0. By making the upper chamber, B, somewhat larger than the chamber A the vacuum formed in B will insure the elevation of all the water from A, and freezing will be thereby guarded against. It will be observed that there is no steampressure exerted in driving the water to the required elevation, but only in expelling air from the vacuum chambers-an operation which is quickly and effectually accomplished at a very slight expenditure of steam.

It is evident that three or more vacuumehambers might be employed instead of two, and that various other forms ofvaeunm-chambers, tanks, and pipe-connections might be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention; hence I do not wish to limit myself strictly to the construction herein set forth; but

Having fully described my invention,what I 5 claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a self-acting water-elevator, the combination, with the lower vacuum chamber and the upper vacuum-chamber connected 5 5 therewith, of a tank located below the upper vacuum-chamber and adapted to receive the water therefrom.

2. The combination, with thelower vacuumchamber, the upper vacuum-chamber,a Waterpipe connecting said chambers, and pipes for supplying steam thereto, of a tank located below the upper vacuum-chamber and adapted to receive the water therefrom, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination ,with avacuum-chamber and a pipe adapted to conduct steam into the chamber to form the vacuum, of a larger and a smaller deflector, constructed and located substantially as described, adapted to scatter the steam as it enters the chamber, substantially as set forth.

4. The combinatiomwith a vacuuinchaniber provided with an air-escape opening, of a counterbalanced valve adapted to rest in a normally-open adjustment when the Vacuum is satisfied and a float adapted to positively open the valve and admit air into the vacuum, substantially as set forth.

5. The combinatiomwith a chamber provided with anair-escape opening, ofthe counterbalanced valve adapted to close the air-escape opening and the cam and'cam-operating lever adapted to automatically open the valve as the water reaches the desired height in the chamber, substantially as set forth.

6. The eombination,with thelowervacuumchamber and the upper vacuum-chamber connected therewith, of the water-escape opening leading from the upper vacuum-chamber to the tank and the weighted valve for closing the said opening, substantially as set forth.

7. The combination, with the two vacuumchambers, of the steam-pipe connecting their ends, a steam-supply pipe adapted to conduct steam from a boiler to the said connectingpipe, and a two-way cock adapted to open and close the pipe leading to the two vacuunr chambers, substantially as set forth.

8. The self-acting water-elevator,consisting, essentially, of the lower vacuum-chamber, the upper vaeuunrchamber connected therewith, the air-escape valves, the water inlet and outlet valves, the steam-inlets, and the tank or reservoir located beneath the upper vacuumehamber, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ALFRED \VILKIN.

\Vitnesses:

\VILLLiM DUsTrN, H. A. BROWN.

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